BDC Averages.

[Erin Bruch]

Ok, so I just did my averages for the past 3 moth and found out...

Of the 80 leads on average that I get. 20% come in. After that the sales team goes and sells them. They sell anywhere from 30% to 50%.

My question is are those "normal" averages?

20% come in and 50%-30% sell?

 

[Broderick Alley]

You need to break it down even more to get a true picture of what you are doing.

Of the 80 leads you are getting, how many are responding to you(email, phone, chat, text)? Of those that respond, how many are coming in? Of the ones that come in, how many are you closing.

Now look back at the leads from 6, 5, and 4 months ago. Out of the ones you did not sell how many are you still talking too?
If you are talking to a high number of leads but only getting 16 to come in, find out why? You are missing something in your process if this is the case. How many customers can you take a car to for a test drive?

The one thing I have learned is if your show number is close to your sold number, then you are missing out on deals.
The leads from the previous 3 months(4,5,6) should bring your show number closer to your amount of leads for the past 3 months. This seems to be a big hole that needs to be filled in. Getting deals out or your leads that are 4 to 6 months old should add 20% to 40% more sales.

 

[richchew]

Broderick Alley makes some good points, and I agree with most of what is said there. But if you are looking for standards to base your performance on than I would like to break it down a little different. I am assuming that you are talking about internet leads.
The numbers you should be shooting for is around 40% set, of them at least 50% show ad out of those 60% sold.
So if you are receiving 80 leads per month, you should be setting at least 32 appts, at least 16 show, and at least 10 sold. These numbers will also very depending on what lead sources you are using if they are organic leads ad factory least those percentages should be higher compared to 3rd party leads. But these numbers are a good average.

 

[mcampo2501]

If this is the first time you have ever completed this exercise, then there is no such thing as a good or bad number, and you should really keep from thinking of it that way. The fact of the matter is that you have now established your baseline. From here, you should set a goal to improve your numbers over the next 3 months. There are many things that can change what the outcome SHOULD be when looking at your numbers, and most of which you will have no control of. If you aim for numbers that someone outside your dealership has set forth for you as your objective, you will either never hit your true potential or you will see yourself as a failure. Take your baseline, develop a plan to improve it, and execute. Do this for a year, and go over the results with your management team. You'll find that slowly improving whatever your production currently is, is considerably more rewarding than chasing rainbows.

With that said, I agree with the above poster. Most industry studies will tell you that about 12% is the average close rate of an internet lead. My team rarely closes much higher than 12% on any given month, and there are plenty of lead sources on my ROI report that finish below 10%, so you really can't do much with national averages that include dealers with inventories of all shapes and sizes. Ask yourself this question... If your dealership sold 20% more cars than they ever did before, but finished with the lowest sales rank in the nation by franchise, would your management team be upset? Of course not. So don't feel like you have to compete on a national scale unless your numbers start out that way.

 

[richchew]

Good for you by the way Erin for jumping on here looking for your answers, that is definitely a sign you are on a great path.
Mcampo definitely makes some great points especially since you are just starting out. The numbers I posted are more from a lead management point of view.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

Erin, It's great to have you! I'd encourage you to search through past conversations as many awesome people have weighed in on this topic over the years. Also Joe (@zonewebb) would agree with Richard. I'm going to side with Mike on the idea of benchmarking. Your average should be improving as your process and skills sharpen. Also as noted, the source of the leads can greatly effect conversion rates.
I have to ask, how long have you worked in this position and how much authority do you have?
When I started out, I wasn't even allowed to call leads, only email them, only after getting a response and setting an appointment would the lead be called by the assigned salesman (and quoting prices was a big no-go). I now have a team of people calling & emailing with a close rate I'm ok with-but we are still working at getting better. Next milestone: 28% 3 month rolling average "Goooooo TEAM!"
A few places to look: Lead to Apt Averages? Dealer Industry Averages?
Past conversations will provide a wealth of information, but we're all here to help one another grow. Thank you again for joining and having the courage to speak up, asking a question. I look forward to your insight!

 

[jon.berna]

As mcampo2501 said there are no such thing as good numbers or bad numbers provided you are tracking them historically. At my last group we had a 23 person centralized BDC for 10 stores and I tracked everything down to the smallest detail. We created internal training aids and process maps to drive the numbers you are referring to.

It is important to note that benchmarks can quickly become obstacles for continued improvement. Once they are hit with regularity, people will take their foot of the gas. That is why it is important to communicate "Where you are at versus where you have been" more than you communicate "Where you are at versus a made up benchmark."

Also, relying on what another dealer said they did can be misleading for a number of reasons:

- How pure is their reporting? They could be isolating customers, sources and other outliers.

- Their procedures for CRM data accountability are going to be totally different than your store/groups.

- How much money they spend and their effectiveness in marketing. All things being equal if you were to compare the results of 2 dealers using the same source in the same market the dealer that spends more or markets more effectively should convert better.

- Dealerships market and customer base. As an example think of the variance in the numbers between a metro versus a rural dealership.

- Number of quality sales people with over 90 days of tenure. This is probably one of the best leading indicators for overall sales in a dealership and will impact all areas of your sales funnel.


Here is what I considered benchmark (note this was only shared when absolutely necessary):


Note: this is for all sources: phone, internet, 3rd party over a rolling 30 day period, giving you an overall appt to sale of 25%. Also, some of you may say a 50% show rate is low. Consider that this is only what is tracked and recorded in the CRM, the true number will always be higher - as certain customers won't get logged as shown.

That is why the best approach is to build your own reliable reporting, seek out the variation that causes your gains/losses and drive your team to a process that gives you consistent numbers. For more info I wrote an article about improving show rate and sold rate on my site called rolling out the red carpet

 

[SeanWoodruff]

Haha at first glance I thought this thread was titled "BDC Avengers".

Now THAT would be a topic worth discussing!

 

[Erin Bruch]

Thank you all so much!

pretty much all of my leads are internet leads. our sources are cars.com, getauto, autousa, our website, & Hook logic.

They have the calls going to the sales people.

The main issue is that in a 5 miles south is another VW dealership, then 15miles east is another.

I loose a lot of sales to them. I am also trying to figure out some you tube videos for us boost us there as well

I'll recheck as time goes to bring up sales,ad increase profit.

Thank you all so much!

 

[mcampo2501]

Erin,

Keep in mind that those other dealers are also competing against you, and likely feel like they lose a lot of their NEW CAR sales to you as well. That is what I mean by market conditions, and making sure you are setting the right expectation for yourself. There's a lot to discuss here, but I would focus on the fact that, as long as you're selling used cars, your dealership incredibly unique. Without turning this into a marketing discussion, I'll also suggest you make sure you are taking full advantage of the customization of the hooklogic product. You can be very specific in how much you're offering to people based on many different variables... ask your rep.

If you're really interested in how those other dealers are affecting your internet business, filter your report to see how many new car specific leads you are averaging per month. Many dealers find themselves in automalls or strips with several other dealers practically in walking distance and manage to stay in business. The key to your internet success will be developing the right marketing strategy for your new cars, and the right merchandising strategy for your used cars. I would also put an emphasis on the appointment set and show rates. I would guess your biggest area to improve would be getting the people in the door, and so you'll need to make sure you (or your team) take great care to improve the rate at which you do that with your internet opportunities. Better close rates will follow.